Answer Happy

Sports socks company case Thor is one of the American companies working in the field of producing sports socks of all kinds, and this company has transformed from just a company producing second-class socks to a company with distinctive varieties in the market. The beginning of the story goes back to the sharp decline in the company's sales and the lack of its marketing share at the beginning of the nineties. On the road to success were the following steps: (1) Preparing an integrated marketing research, the study concluded that the total market for sports socks reaches (500) million dollars and that its design does not exceed the presence of a printed name and some colored stripes on an occasional basis, which are always white socks made of cotton mainly. The study also proved that the use of elastic makes the socks slip on the foot during sports matches. In addition, most athletes suffer from sloughing and sticking to the fingers using the current socks. (2) Changing the company's mission from producing sports socks to * producing foot comfort and translating this through an integrated effort between marketing men and design men, and the development took several forms: -Designing socks that do not slip on the foot, without using traditional rubber to solve customers' problem in this regard. -Toe socks are designed to prevent friction and sticking toes, and to maintain a healthy foot. -Reduction of 20% of profits for research and development, purchase of advanced new machines, and introduce multiple low-cost designs. (3) Divide the market into a group, and produce socks for each category such as tennis socks, football socks, volleyball socks, basketball socks, ski socks ... etc., with a focus on a group of high-level games, using segmentation according to social class, dealing with high-ranking groups who are looking for a foot rest. (4) The use of distribution outlets that deal with higher social groups, and the opening of small branches in clubs frequented by the high classes. (5) The use of those ideas led to the use of a pricing policy according to the ability of the consumer to pay, raising the company's prices to be double the other competing items.
(6) Promotional efforts were used to clarify developments added to products, justify the high price and link it to aspects of respect existing in the commodity. Where tennis socks were linked with the world tennis champion (Martina Navratilova), support was obtained from the American Medical Association, and a number of major American institutions that relied on the company's socks mainly to provide them to their workers. With a number of reports submitted and published in specialized medical journals. The result was an increase in the company's sales from 30 million dollars annually to 150 million dollars in a plan implemented by the company in three years.
5- What are - in your opinion, from the reality of your understanding of the situation - the factors that led the company to success in solving its marketing problems?